


What He Didn't Know

by IdjitProofWings



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU Written before HBP, Drabble, M/M, Sick Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-02
Updated: 2017-07-02
Packaged: 2018-11-22 10:22:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11378238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IdjitProofWings/pseuds/IdjitProofWings
Summary: A last wish.





	What He Didn't Know

**Author's Note:**

> Flash fic challenge written in 2005, lost during the Great Detention Deletion  
>  Not Beta'd

  
"Severus is dying." The words stop me cold. Dumbledore looks up at me from the bed. His wizened hands folded over his lap look graceful still. His eyes, those blue orbs have lost their sparkle, just as mine have lost their innocence.  
  
"What?" My voice breaks. Dumbledore pauses as I stare at him, assessing.  
  
"Harry, my boy," He starts," it is not I who is dying, it is Severus." I flinch, he is still manipulating things after all these years.  
  
"I had to tell you that it was I who was injured," He explains " or you wouldn't have come."  
  
I stare at him as I take a step back, as if putting distance between us would change what has been said. "What does this have to do with me?"  
  
He sighs heavily and pushes his glasses back up onto his nose. "Severus is in love with you."

I start. This is surprising. "And?"  
  
Dumbledore looks at me imploringly, "Can you not make a dying man happy, after all he has done for you?"  
  
"Severus is dying?" I think back, the gaunt look, sickly pale skin that was the origin of the vampire rumor, dark circles under his eyes. "Shite."  
  
________________________  
  
I find him in the kitchen of Grimmauld place, I haven't been back here since handing it over permanently to the Order years ago.

His thin form is bent over the table as his body shakes, wracked with coughs. He doesn't notice my entrance. This in itself is bad, there was a time when no one could get within thirteen feet of him without his noticing.  
  
"Severus, I've.... I've missed you."

  
He jumps startled, hand reaching for his wand. A reflex honed by years as a Death Eater and a spy. Then he process my words. A confused look comes over him. I stare into the face of a man I had hated for years. I feel pity but my heart aches at the desperate hope in his eyes.  
  
He presses his thin lips together as he looks at me. I reach out and stroke one pale cheek. He leans into my touch as his eyes close and his mouth opens in a small sigh.  
  
Opening his eyes he asks me "What do you want Pott...potter....Harry?"  
  
I occlude my mind and stare into his eyes,  "You."  
  
And that is enough.  
  
His bony hands grasp my shoulders as he brings his lips to mine, or tongues meet  and I melt into him, the surge of arousal I feel is not feigned. His hand comes up to cup my face and I move my free hands to his hair. It's thinner than it was.

He pauses to cough again, struggling to draw in a breath. I stroke his forehead and trace the line of his nose. He has questions, I can see them forming behind his eyes. He doesn't ask. It's for the best.

Our bodies meld together as I feel him through his robes, he is painfully thin.   
  
"I've wanted this ... you for so long." He mumbles eyes downcast, face buried into my hair.  
  
I tilt his chin up. "Where's the snarky bastard that I know? "  
  
His eyes flash fire for a moment, then he laughs. A short harsh bark that seems to pain him.  
  
"Come with me and I'll show you, you impertinent brat." Ahh return of the prodigal.  
  
Later as we lie tangled in his bed, my arm draped over his stomach and him asleep against me i think, if this is what it takes to make a dying man happy for a week, a month or a year, who am I to deny him.

He will want for nothing.


End file.
